Myanmar has long valued ASEAN for the protection it provides not only from the wider international community but also its fellow members. But the unwillingness of Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya issue has pushed ASEAN members towards new forms of protest. This failure is already a tragedy, but for ASEAN it might become a disaster.

Myanmar must find a solution to the socially and economically devastating Kachin insurgency. And it needs to bring other smaller armed ethnic groups formally into the present arrangement. They must be brought into the main peace-making process as soon as practicable.

For long-term happiness, Myanmar’s minorities will be seeking greater autonomy and the chance to defend their cultural heritage. Even if all goes well, balancing their interests against those of the majority will be a permanent conundrum.

The mood of Bangladesh’s government indicates an urgency for increased securitization, surveillance, discrimination and suspicion of the country’s Tibeto-Burman speaking Buddhist minority, known as Jummas.